Enclosure of a shower when in use is a problem that has involved practicality balanced against danger. Curtains have been hung to draw opened and closed along a supporting rod, and glass doors (dangerously breakable) have been pivoted and hung so as to slide between opened and closed positions. Both curtains and doors have been space consuming, they often remain wet, and neither has all of the desired attributes for practicality and safety. Curtains that have been hung so as to enclose tubs and showers and/or stalls, ten to billow and contact the body of the bather and to stick or cling to the bather. Further, curtains tend to remain wetted and become dank with mold or mildew. Glass doors have been quite dangerous even when reinforced, and they are heavy and require the constant effort of cleaning. Shower enclosures of the curtain and door type are usually made semi transparent and span the stall opening so as to afford privacy and to confine the shower spray, and to this end shower curtains are made oversized and glass doors are framed with seals. It is an object of this invention to provide the advantages of the aforementioned shower curtains and shower doors, in a retractable shower shade that is not only practical but inherently safe.
The shower shade herein disclosed is a practical replacement of a curtain or a glass door, having the advantages of both but not the objectionable features of either. That is, the shade of the present invention does not billow and need not be made oversized as is the usual curtain; and it is not fragile or breakable as is a glass door. With the present invention, a relatively heavy plastic sheet is closely fitted within the width of the stall opening and weighted so as to depend in a vertically disposed closure plane when in use. A feature of this invention is the adjustable restriction for the downward extension of the shade which is controllably retractable into a protective housing. It is an object of this invention to provide the aforementioned features in an adaptable unit of construction that can be readily applied to various stall widths and heights, all as circumstances require. The internal components of the unit remain the same for various dimensional requirements, and the side edges of the shade are closely juxtaposed to the stiles of the shower stall while the lower margin conforms to the contours of the tub or shower pan, as the case may be.
It is an object of this invention to provide hardware of permanent character that is easily mounted. The shade element retracts onto and depends from a roller in which means is accomodated for retraction and for adjustably limited extension. The mountings for the roller are combined with a housing which carries wiper means that strips water from the inside wetted surface when the shade travels up or down. The housing maintains alignment of the roller when fastened to the opposite end plates which establish anchors for the retraction means and extension limiting means respectively.